Saturday 1 November 2008

CSR at EON

Effective corporate social responsibility (CSR) is essential to our business, because it:

* enhances reputation and business trust
* reduces risk
* improves relationships with regulators
* motivates employees and makes us an employer of choice
* improves customer preference and loyalty
* creates goodwill in communities where we operate
* creates long-term shareholder value.

Last year, we made a key contribution to the CSR work undertaken by our parent company and more information on CSR across the E.ON Group is available here.

CSR at E.ON AG

E.ON aims to make CSR a part of everyday life across our whole business and has put in place a project structure to support this aim.

The CSR Council comprises members of the Board of Management of E.ON AG and its market units, including E.ON UK, the Chair of the E.ON Workers' Council, senior executives from the Corporate Centre, and the management of the market and business units. The Council is headed by two Top Executive Committee members, of which one is E.ON UK Chief Executive Paul Golby. The CSR Council sets E.ON's CSR strategy and controls all activities in this area.

The CSR Council is supported by a CSR Project Team comprising employees at the E.ON Corporate Centre, market unit CSR coordinators, members of the E.ON Workers' Council, and heads of expert and implementation teams. The CSR Project Team makes recommendations to the E.ON Board of Management and sets out the framework for implementing CSR activities in the market units. Other key tasks include developing CSR governance and communication with sustainability analysts, supporting the market units, and communicating CSR topics to a wider internal and external audience.

CSR in the UK

We continue to put CSR at the heart of our business and in particular climate change, which we now view as our single biggest challenge. To help co-ordinate these activities, we have created a senior management position, Head of Climate Change. CSR is also supported by a number of policies, including our Environment, Health and Safety, Equal Opportunities and Conduct of Business policies.

We're proud of our CSR credentials. We're accredited to the International Standards Organisation's environmental management standard (ISO 14001). We also are a member of a number of organisations that are active in the area of corporate social responsibility, including the Basic Services Human Rights Network, Business in the Community, Forum for the Future's Business Network, Action Sustainability and the International Chamber of Commerce, where we are involved in the commissions on Energy in the Environment and Business in Society. The E.ON Group is a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the UN Global Compact.

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